The Family He Chose

My daughter was running a fever. When I carried her downstairs, my sister-in-law was already waiting beside my husband Ethan Cole's car with her son in her arms.

Ethan hesitated. “Do you want me to take you?”

Before I could answer, Claire cut in.

“Ethan, it's Zack's preschool open house today. We're going to be late.”

“Besides…didn't we agree you weren't going to help her financially for a few months?”

Ethan looked at my daughter and me as if he wanted to say something. Then he drove away.

Just as my rideshare arrived, a notification from work appeared on my phone.

“You've successfully completed your probationary period. Your permanent position takes effect next month.”

I let out a breath.

It had been five months since Ethan cut off my card.

At last, I could start making the divorce happen.

——————

I didn't begin to relax until Sophie was at the hospital with an IV running into her arm.

I'd worked late the night before. Ethan and my sister-in-law, Claire, had taken Zack out for a walk, leaving my daughter asleep on the couch by herself.

I'd woken her for a bath when I got home. By morning, she was burning up. I kept wondering whether I should have just let her sleep.

I called her preschool teacher to explain that she wouldn't be coming in. I'd barely put my phone away when Ethan's messages arrived.

“How's Sophie? What did the doctor say?”

“Has anyone seen her yet?”

I stared at his messages, then closed the conversation without a flicker of expression.

Locking my phone, I leaned against the cold wall of the hospital hallway. I was exhausted.

Five months earlier, I'd happened to see Ethan's transaction history.

Transfer after transfer. Every one of them went to Claire.

There were payments toward Zack's preschool fundraiser and a $1,500 La Mer skin care set for Claire.

He'd even added her to his account so he could pay for things as small as her tampons.

I'd already objected to him moving her and her son into our home.

On the day they arrived, Ethan gave her the primary bedroom without asking me. It had the best natural light and an attached bathroom—more convenient for her, apparently.

While I was out buying groceries for an hour, he moved all my things out.

When I demanded to know why he hadn't discussed it with me, he simply said it made things easier for Claire.

We fought again and again after she moved in.

When I discovered he was even paying for her tampons, I lost my temper and asked whether he wanted to sleep with his own brother's wife.

During our worst argument, he looked at me as though I were some irrational woman he barely knew.

“Sarah, you have too much time on your hands.”

“You sit at home all day with nothing to do. That's why you're always dreaming up problems that don't exist.”

“The $4,500 a month I give you for household expenses isn't enough? Now you want to control what I spend on Zack and Claire, too? How greedy can you get?”

After that, he canceled my authorized-user card and stopped giving me money altogether.

He said I needed time to calm down.

And since I cared so much about money, he was going to teach me what it was worth.

From then on, we'd split every expense for our daughter down the middle.

As for the rest of the household money, I could forget it.

I'd been a stay-at-home mother for four years. I had no savings of my own.

Almost overnight, I was struggling to cover the basics. I had no choice but to look for work.

But who was eager to hire a woman who'd married straight out of college and spent the years since taking care of a child?

I searched for two solid weeks before a former classmate helped me get an interview at a design firm.

For the past three months, I'd worked there all day and stayed up caring for Sophie at night.

At least I hadn't lost my skills. I'd won a design award back in college, and starting over as a design assistant was something I could handle.

The probationary salary was low, but the bonus for each completed project made a real difference.

Little by little, I'd managed to get through those months.

I unlocked my phone again, this time to look into getting a divorce.

Until now, I'd been afraid to bring it up. Without a job or an income, I worried I couldn't give Sophie a stable home or win custody.

So I'd swallowed everything.

Now I had three months of pay deposits and confirmation that my position was becoming permanent.

Ethan Cole.

I didn't have to keep him, either.